This thesis deals with the non - ethnic motivations of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is very often labeled as ethnic. By examining the alliance formation between the war parties, this thesis shows that ethnicity was the not the only motivation. It also focuses on the intra Muslim conf lict that took place in the Bosnian war which represents another motivation for the conflict which was not connected with ethnicity. The second aim was to analyze how external factors contributed to the above mentioned processes. Without giving any implica tions on the wider understanding of ethnic wars, this thesis focuses only on the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and argues that analyzing this war without taking into consideration the exogenous actors would represent a simplification of a very complex process.